Mitochondria
Mitochondria are subcellular organelles that manufacture the essential molecule adenosine triphosphate (ATP) by oxidative phosphorylation. The human mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) of 16,654 base pair encodes two ribosomal RNAs, 22 transfer RNAs (tRNAs) and 13 open reading frames (ORF) that encode a similar number of polypeptides (Clayton, Hum Reprod. Suppl 2:11-17, 2000; Taanman, Biochim. Biophys. Acta, 1410:103-123, 1999). On the basis of the content of G+T base composition, the two strands of the mtDNA differ in buoyant density and can be separated in denaturating cesium chloride gradients. The heavy strand or H-strand encodes the two ribosomal RNAs (12S and 16S), 14 tRNAs and 12 polypeptides corresponding to ND 1, ND 2, ND 3, ND4L, ND4, ND 5, COX I, COX II, COX III, ATP6, ATP8 and Cyt b. The light strand or L-strand codes for 8 tRNAs and the subunit of the complex NAD dehydrogenase ND6 (Clayton, Hum Reprod. Suppl 2:11-17, 2000; Taanman, Biochim. Biophys. Acta, 1410:103-123, 1999).
A large proportion of the mtDNA contains a short three-stranded structure called the displacement loop or D-loop. This region, that in humans is 1,006 base palm, is flanked by the genes for tRNA of phenylalanine (tRNAPhe) and the tRNA of proline (tRNAPro) and contains a short nucleic acid strand complementary to the L-strand and displacing the H-strand (Clayton, Hum Reprod. Suppi 2:11-17, 2000; Taanman, Biochim. Biophys. Acta, 1410:103-123, 1999). This region has evolved as the major control site for mtDNA expression and contains the leading-strand or H-strand origin of replication and the major promoters for transcription of the H-(HSP) and L-strand (LSP). Despite the close proximity of the HSP and LSP (about 150 bp). these regulatory elements are functionally independent in vitro (Shuaey and Attardi, J Biol. Chem. 260:1952-1958, 1985; Taanman, Biochim. Biophys. Acta, 1410:103-123, 1999) as well as in vivo, utilizing model of patients with mitochondrial diseases (Chinnery and Tumbull, Mol. Med. Today, 6:425432, 2000).
Both strands are transcribed as polydcistronic RNAs which are then processed to release the individual mRNAs, tRNAs and the rRNAs (Taanman, Biochim. Biophys. Acta, 1410:103-123, 1999). In humans, the mitochondrial RNA polymerase is a protein of 1,230 amino acids with significant homology with the sequence of yeast mitochondrial RNA polymerase and with the RNA polymerases of several bacteriophages (Tiranti et al., Hum Mol Genet. 6:615-625, 1997). In addition, a family of transcription factors have been characterized such as the mitochondrial transcription factor A or TFAM which is essential for mammalian mtDNA transcription and is a member of the high mobility group (HMG)-box family of DNA-binding proteins (Parisi and Clayton, Science. 252:965-969, 1991). Recently, two independent reports described the characteristics of new transcription factors, TFB1M and TFB2M, in human and mouse (McCulloch et al., Mol. Cell Biol. 22:1116-1125, 2002; Falkenberg et al., Nat Genet. 31:289-294, 2002; Rantanen at al., Mamm Genome. 14:1-6, 2003). In spite of the considerable progress achieved on the cis- and trans-acting elements involved in mtDNA transcription, the functional details are not fully understood.
Mitochondria and Apoptosis
Mitochondria play a central role in apoptosis, a fundamental biological process by which cells die in a well-controlled or programmed manner. This cell suicide program is essential during development and for adult homeostasis of all metazoan animals. Apoptosis is activated to eradicate superfluous, damaged, mutated and aged cells (Meier et al., Nature 407:796-801, 2000). Disregulation of apoptosis is implicated in the appearance of several pathologies. Thus, abnormal inhibition of apoptosis is a hallmark of neoplasia, whereas massive apoptosis has been linked with acute diseases such as stroke, septic shock and neurodegerative disorders. At present the process of apoptosis is described as two major pathways known as the extrinsic and the intrinsic pathways (Zörnig et al., Biochim. Biophys. Acta, 1551:F1-F37, 2001). The extrinsic pathway is a process that is initiated at the cell membrane by the binding of different ligands to the death receptors (Krammer, Nature 407:789-795, 2000; Zörnig et al., Biochim. Biophys. Act, 1551:F1-f37, 2001).
Caspases, are responsible for the proteolytic cascade in apoptosis. Caspases are synthesized as inactive precursor proteins that undergo proteolytic maturation or processing upon apoptosis induction (Zörnig et al., Biochim. Biophys. Acts, 1551:F1-F37, 2001). However, more recently several experimental evidences indicate that lysosomal proteases constitute an alternative pathway of proteolysis after apoptotic insults (Guicciardi et al., Oncogene, 23:2881-2890, 2004).
On the other hand, anti-apoptotic proteins homologous to the human oncoprotein Bcl-2 have been described. This protein belongs to a family of proteins that are either anti-apoptotic (Bcl-2, Bcl-XL, Bcl-w) or pro-apoptotic (Bax, Bak, Bim, Bid, etc.) (Zörnig et al., Biochim. Biophys. Acts, 1551:F1-F37, 2001).
Mitochondria are particularly affected early during the apoptotic process and at present time they are recognized as the central coordinators of cell death (Boya et al., Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 304:575-581, 2003; Ferri and Kroemer, Nature Cell Biol. 3:E255-E263, 2001; Zörnig et al., Biochim. Biophys. Acta, 1551:F1-F37, 2001). Several pro-apoptotic signal and damage pathways converge on mitochondria to induce mitochondrial membrane permeabilization, phenomenon that is under the control of Bcl-2 proteins (Boya et al., Biochem. Biophys. Res. Commun. 304:575-581, 2003; Zörnig et al., Biochim. Biophys. Acta, 1551:F1-F37, 2001). After cells receive apoptotic insults, the trans-membrane potential (Δψm) dissipates resulting in the complete permeabilization of the outer mitochondrial membrane and the consequent leakage of toxic mitochondrial intermembrane proteins. The first example of the leakage of a mitochondrial protein was the liberation of cytochrome c (Liu at al., Apoptosis, 6:453-462, 2001). When cytochrome c is present in the cytosol, it drives the assembly of the caspase activating complex termed the apoptosome. Cytochrome c binds to Apaf-1 (apoptotic protease activatin factor-1) facilitating the binding of dATP/ATP to the complex and the oligomerization of Apaf-1 (Adrain at al., 1999; Benedict et al., 2000). Oligomerlzation of Apaf-1 allows the recruitment of pro-caspase-9 which catalyzes the proteolytic activation of the precursor and generation of active caspase-9 (Adrain et al., J. Biol. Chem. 274:20855-20860, 1999; Benedict et al., J. Biol. Chem., 275:8461-8468, 2000).
A family of cytosolic inhibitor of apoptosis proteins have been described and are known as XIAP, c-IAP1 and c-IAP2. These proteins bind to and inhibit processed caspase-3 and caspase-9 and consequently stop the cascade of degradation. However, the cell also contains countermine mechanisms to bypass this anti-apoptotic pathway. In cells undergoing apoptosis, caspases are liberated of this inhibitory effect by binding to IAPs of a protein known as Smac (Second Mitochondrial Activator of Caspases) or DIABLO (Direct IAP Binding protein with Low pl) (Verhagen et al., Apoptosis, 7:163-166, 2002). By binding to IAPs, Smac/DIABLO displace active caspases from IAPs and thus promote cell death. Another protein, knowns as HtrA2, is released from the mitochondria into the cytosol after apoptotic insult where the protein binds to IAPs in a similar fashion as does Smac/DIABLO and thereby facilitating caspases activation (Verhagen et al., Apoptosis. 7:163-168, 2002; Martins et al., 2001; Suzuki et al., Mol. Cell, 8:613-621, 2001; Hedge et al., Apoptosis, 7:123-132, 2002).
The apoptosis inducing factor (AIF) is another component of the apoptotic cascade. After induction of apoptosis, AIF translocates to the cytosol and to the nucleus. In the nucleus, AIF induces peripheral chromatin condensation and DNA fragmentation. AIF also induces several hallmarks of apoptosis like Δψm dissipation and phosphatidylserine exposure (Zörnig et al., Biochim. Biophys. Acta, 1551:F1-F37, 2001). A factor that seems to regulate the apoptotic activity of AIF is the heat schock protein 70 (Ravagnan et al., Nature Cell Biol. 3:839-843, 2001). Another mitochondrial factor that exits the mitochondria and translocates into the nucleus like AIF is endonuclease G or Endo G. In the nucleus, Endo G generates DNA fragmentation even in the presence of caspase inhibitors (U et al., Nature, 412:95-99, 2001). Endo G may act in similar fashion as CAD (caspase-activated DNAse), a nuclease whose activation critically relies on caspases (Samejima et al., J. Biol. Chem., 278:45427-45432, 2001).
Cancer and Pre-Cancer
Cancer is a cellular malignancy whose unique trait, loss of normal control of cell cycle, results in unregulated growth, lack of differentiation, and ability to invade other tissues and metastasize. Carcinogenesis is the process by which a normal cell is transformed in a malignant cell. Carcinogenesis is a multiple step process beginning with the genetic event of initiation followed by selective expansion of altered cells during promotion to form early adenomas. In the absence of continuous promotion, the adenoma regresses and disappears. With a second genetic event, a small number of promoted adenomas progress to form late adenomas some of which may then undergo malignant conversion (McKinnell et al., “The Biology Basis of Cancer”, Ch. 3, 1998).
The etiology of cancer is complex and includes alteration of the cell cycle regulation, chromosomal abnormalities and chromosomes breakage. Infectious agents such several types of oncogenic viruses, chemicals, radiation (ultraviolet or ionizing radiation) and immunological disorders are thought to be the major causes of carcinogenesis (McKinnell et al., The Biological Basis of Cancer, Ch. 3, 1998).
It has been proposed for a long time that cancer is also related to mitochondrial dysfunction. One of these theories suggests that mitochondrial mutation might be the primary cause of cell transformation and cancer (Warburg, 1956; Carew and Huang, Mol. Cancer, 1:1-12, 2002). Alterations of the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) was reported in hematologic malignancies (Clayton and Vinograd, Nature. 216:652-657, 1967) and in breast cancer (Tan et al., 2002; Parrella et al., 2001). Mutations of several regions of the mtDNA and deletions have been also identified in patients with colorectal cancer, prostate cancer, ovarian cancer, gastric cancer, pancreatic cancer, hepatocellular carcinoma, esophageal cancer, kidney cancer, thyroid cancer and brain tumors (reviewed by Carew and Huang, Mol. Cancer, 1:1-12, 2002). In general, there appears to be two major features of mtDNA alterations in cancer irrespective of tumor type. The majority of the mutations are base transitions from T to C and G to A. Second, while there is diversity in the particular genes in which mutations occur, the D-loop seems to be the most frequent somatic mutated region of the mtDNA in most tumor types.
Pre-cancer cells are defined here as a transformed cell which can evolve or differentiate into a malignant cell. Some examples are cells transformed by DNA or RNA oncoviruses.
The present invention is related to a novel family of mitochondrial RNAs and the use herein of these RNAs as targets for diagnostics and cancer therapy. The present invention provides compositions and methods and that are useful to differentiate normal cells from tumor cells, or from pre-malignant cells or cells transformed with oncogenic viruses. In particular, as elaborated below, the present invention provides composition and methods for diagnostic assays to differentiate normal cells from pre-cancer and cancer cells. In another embodiment of the invention, composition and methods are provided to induce massive and selective tumor cell death. Therefore, the present invention provides compositions and methods which may be used in cancer and pre-cancer diagnostic and therapy as well as for research.